My condolences on the loss of your father. What a terrible thing for your mother to have to go through. Was an autopsy performed? There are multiple possible explainations including massive stroke, heart attack or arrhythmia but it is impossible to know for sure without an autopsy. Most of these are very difficult to predict and stress can definately play a role. Again my condolences and prayers in this difficult time.
My sympathies to you on the loss of your father. I lost my dad 6 months ago under similar circumstances. The thing that has distressed my mom the most is the fact that once my dad went into distress but was still conscious, he never spoke to her. He was able to walk with the aid of two people, but was unable to communicate. I think it was a matter of about 7 minutes from the time he first collapsed until he died and didn't speak a word to her. This has been very hard for her to understand.
Dear Dawn and family,
I have lost many people in my family due to the heart. I have often wondered my self all these questions. I can only hope that someone can give you the answers you need. My family and my self will say a prayer for you and your family. God bless you and help you in your time of need
Dawn,Linda and Sandy,
My condolenances to you and your families. Every night I pray to God for saving my husbands life and believe me, I do realize how lucky we are. He suffered cardiac arrest last year while playing softball. He is only 34 years old. The paramedics were on sight within 4 minutes and were able to defibrillate him back to life with the help of a few others who had performed the CPR until the ambulance arrived. With all of the testing he had done in the days after, they can not find a reason why this happened only that it was a fatal arrythmia. He has absolutely no heart damage and his arteries are completely clean which is the good news but it very concerning that the docotors can not figure out why it happened. He now has an implanted defibrillator (AICD) and it has actually saved his life again. He is now on a beta blocker and hasn't had any reoccurances in about 9 months. I thank God again for that.
I thought it might help your families to hear from a survivor of cardiac arrest. From all that I have read about it, if a victim is not defibrillated with 4-6 minutes, they will not survive regardless of CPR. (Unfortunately for some victims, this doesn't even help).The CPR helps prevent brain damage and is the life support system until the paramedics arrive, but if they are not there within minutes it can be fatal. Only 5% of cardiac arrrest victims survive. This is an alarming number but is getting a little better with the push of the importance of defibrillators. If it helps at all, my husband does not remember anything at all and felt no pain. He only remembers trying to catch his breath because he was running and that was it. The first 5 days after the accident were all a blur. He remembers nothing at all from the accident, which they tell us is very common.
The second time he had cardiac arrest was this past February. We had just moved and he had been lifting heavy furniture and was out straight for a good 2 weeks which of course he said he could handle. Well, it did catch up with him physically and he ended up passing out in the shower. Once again, all he could remember was trying to catch his breath. I was in the bathroom at the time and he had fallen out of the shower into my arms. His eyes were wide open but he was shaking almost like having a seisure. His AICD went off and he sat right up like nothing happened. He does not remember falling or getting zapped.
The doctors have told us to stop trying to figure it all out because we will drive ourselfs crazy and in the beginning we were. We do know how very lucky we are and are so glad that my husband will be around to see our now two year old twin boys and our twelve year old son grow up. For us there are still no answers but we know by him having his AICD he is going to be around for a while. He actually feels great too, which is a blessing as well.
My heart goes out to all of you who have lost a loved one. I myself lost my father of a heart attack when I was 17. He was only 54. I hope I was able to shed a little light on a tragic
situation. Thanks
Linda - it sounds like you dad had a stroke. This is a classic presentation and often deadly. My condolences to you and Sandy on your losses.